Moonshot #27

Space community awaits the Starliner launch, Privateer acquires Orbital Insight, True Anomaly lays off a quarter of its team, and everything else happening in the commercial space sector.

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule sits – atop a ULA Atlas 5 rocket – at the ready for tonight’s crewed launch to the ISS. Credit: AP Photos

Boeing – All eyes will be on Boeing tonight, as NASA’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) will see the CST-100 Starliner taxi two astronauts to the International Space Station on a ULA Atlas V rocket – the first crewed mission for both the Starliner capsule and the Atlas V. It’s a day of dual-emotions, with one hand holding excitement for a crewed flight led by vendors outside of SpaceX, and the other hand holding some admitted anxiety – not just from Starliner’s years of delays and cost overruns, but (perhaps more notably) the company’s damning press as of late. In fact, over the last few days, the aerospace manufacturer came under deep suspicion when a whistleblower – who had recently claimed in a deposition that Boeing fired him after he raised safety concerns during a 757 Max jet inspection – died suddenly at age 45 from a MRSA infection. Of course, conspiracy theories have taught us that correlation does not imply causation, but then again, this was the second time a whistleblower has died suddenly in the matter of a few months. So, yeah… it doesn’t look good, does it? Still, on the space side of things, Starliner has been in the works since 2014, and holds a coveted NASA contract for six missions to the final frontier – two facts that hopefully add up to a meticulously reviewed and safety-tested space vehicle. At the same time, with every passing year, the company’s window to offer NASA or commercial customers flights to the ISS – to which Starliner is designed to dock – is closing, with the station retiring in 2030. Ideally, that pressure cooker of a timeline would not result in any cut corners in the manufacturing process. Despite Boeing’s flawed track record, we have to believe that with NASA’s stake in the project, veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will have nothing but a smooth flight, and we will be cheering them on. 

True Anomaly – Colorado-based startup True Anomaly laid off a fourth of its workforce at the end of April, despite a $100 million fundraising round announced in December. In a recent statement, the firm clarified that this reduction would not affect their current contracts, which include one with the Space Force’s Victus Haze mission. They simply “identified the duplication of roles,” in an effort to be “best positioned to execute,” according to the statement. Perhaps, the cutting back has something to do with the 35,000 square-foot facility True Anomaly opened in August, which couldn’t have been cheap real estate. But that’s just conjecture. What we do know is that the lay-offs come one month after two Jackals – the company’s spacecraft designed for military in-orbit maneuvering applications – traveled to orbit via a SpaceX Transporter-10 rideshare mission only to debut unsuccessfully. The company has now tapped fellow Colorado company Agile Space to develop a propulsion system for the next iteration of the Jackal. 

Privateer – Just announced today, was that Steve Wozniak’s space company has now raised $56.5 million in its latest funding round which also enabled their acquisition of data analytics company, Orbital Insight. This strategic merger will allow Privateer to add mapping and intelligence to their suite of space data offerings, as well as expand into more robust revenue streams while the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) market finds its footing. Aero X Ventures led Privateer’s Series A round in mid-April, alongside Lux Capital, Boca, Starburst, and the Winklevoss twins.

SES & Intelsat – When you can’t beat ‘em – join ‘em! Two GEO satellite giants will now join forces, with Luxembourg-based SES announcing the acquisition of Washington D.C.-based Intelsat for $3.1 billion – in essence creating one, mega satellite company with multi-orbit offerings. Surely, the merger – which likely won’t become official until 2025 accounting for the plethora of regulatory approvals – will create a force to be reckoned with in the satellite industry.  As both companies were already individually pursuing an expansion beyond GEO in an effort to provide multi-orbit solutions, SES’s chief executive Adel Al-Saleh believes that merging will reduce capital expenditure. In Al-Saleh’s words, the companies “don’t need to spend as much money as [they] were spending separately.”

Blue Halo – Virginia-based defense contractor Blue Halo announced a $24 million Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract in late April. The contract gives Blue Halo five years to supply the Air Force’s Satellite Assessment Center with technology supporting the center’s ability to test spacecraft for resilience and specifically, vulnerability to lasers. This technology supplied by Blue Halo will include everything from “direct energy modeling” to “simulation and analysis,” as the lab works to predict and analyze how much “natural and man-made directed energy” a space asset might be able to endure before it becomes endangered, according to the contract announcement. 

Gravitics – A startup specializing in commercial space station modules just landed a $1.7 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the SpaceWERX arm of the Space Force. In their statements about the deal, Marysville, Washington-based Gravitics did not specify exactly how they plan to adapt their modules to suit the needs of the military’s tactfully responsive space efforts, but we do know they’ll be working with industry familiars like Rocket Lab and the (downsized) True Anomaly on the development. 

Firefly – According to Bill Weber, CEO of Texas-based aerospace firm Firefly Aerospace, when it comes to the space economy “we’re about to flip.” Although the company’s Blue Ghost lander will travel to the lunar surface later this year on NASA’s dime, Weber foresees a (near) future where the companies themselves will drive development funding. Adopting a tech startup approach not dissimilar to that of SpaceX, Firefly is banking on growing commercial interest to build faster and more ambitiously. Here’s hoping the firm’s recent scaling – including an expansion of their 200-acre “Rocket Ranch” and an automated fiber placement machine to produce vehicle structures nine times faster than previously possible – pays off in a big way, and they’re able to follow their NASA contracts with 100% commercial missions someday soon. 

An Electron rocket soars to orbit, carrying a South Korean imaging satellite known as NEONSAT-1 and a NASA-funded “solar sail” experiment. Credit: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab – After the successful launch of a South Korean imaging satellite and a NASA solar sail in late April, Rocket Lab landed a subsequent deal with NASA to launch two “back-to-back” climate cubesats. Launching no earlier than May 22nd, the rocket maker will deliver the two PREFIRE – or, Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment – satellites to orbit by way of their New Zealand complex. Once in near-polar orbit, the cubesats will measure polar heat emissions to offer scientists unparalleled climate change data. Of course, Rocket Lab would never let us down with boring launch mission titles, so prepare yourselves for “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE," followed by "PREFIRE and ICE," later this month.